"Once and Future Earth" (series, 2001 - 2006)

The "Once and Future Earth" series arose from a single beautiful slab of spalted maple burl. The slab, about 5" wide by 7" long x 2" thick, yielded six 1/4" thick slices, with the grain pattern of each a slight variant of the previous and successive slices. At the time I sliced the burl, I had just finished reading a book on geology. In the book were pictures of how the continents were arranged on the surface of the earth in the distant past. Interestingly, a similar arangement was projected for the distant future. The first slice of the burl reminded me of these maps, thus the title "Once and Future Earth". The boxes in the series use the changing pattern in the burl slices as snapshots in a history of Earth, as seen by the planet itself. Like the geologic cycles of land creation, movement and destruction, the series can also be seen as a cycle.